Going beyond consultation

In setting up a scrutiny group on its progress on independent living policies, the Government, says Andy Rickell, is putting proper value on the views of disabled people

I was invited earlier this year to become a member of the Independent Living Scrutiny Group whose role it is to report on the Government’s progress on implementing its own Independent Living Strategy, agreed last year.

The first annual report of the Scrutiny Group is due to be published around 3 December. I cannot tell you what it says but please go to the Office for Disability Issues’ website www.odi.gov.uk where it will be available after that date.

What I do want to comment on is the landmark achieved in the work of this Scrutiny Group, and your opportunity to feed in to its work in future.

Firstly, the Scrutiny Group was set up by government, but is independent. That is unusual.

Secondly, chaired by Baroness Jane Campbell, it is made up of disabled activists and a representative of parents of disabled children who all understand independent living well. Several of us were selected because we are members of Equality 2025, the Government appointed group of disabled people which advises Westminster government on national policy and its implications for disabled people’s equality. Hence it is led by disabled people.

Thirdly, it is in my opinion the first time that I can think of when disabled people have been allowed to formally judge the effectiveness of the delivery of government policy. Normally government is evaluated by itself, or via regulatory bodies. Disabled people are often involved in consultation, and increasingly involved in the design of government policy, like via Equality 2025, but they don’t tend to give us the chance to tell them the reality of what government delivers on the ground! That is very “courageous”, in the words of Sir Humphrey Appleby in ‘Yes, Minister’. So the Government deserves real credit for this step forward in the involvement of disabled people as the legitimate evaluators of what happens to us.

In a sense, the Government has correctly grasped what disabled activists have been saying, that the weakest link in state support has been the lack of our “choice and control” over that support. So the Scrutiny Group is an additional way of government embodying the means for disabled people collectively to express whether we really are achieving the quality of life that we want, not what others think we should have.

A key feature of future reports needs to be the informed input of many disabled people on progress towards independent living. The Independent Living Strategy proposed that there should be a “Network of Networks”, meaning disabled individuals would be able to pass on their experiences to organisations who would feed it in to the Scrutiny Group. Equality 2025 has been advising the Government on what that should look like.

As a disability activist who has worked at local and national level in disabled people’s organisations (DPOs), I know how good DPOs are, and particularly centres for independent living (CILs), at understanding the reality for local disabled individuals. So I hope those networks tap into that intelligence and expertise. Watch for announcements as to how you can feed in your views – contact your local CIL.